


He Died Laughing

by morningstar115



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Depressing, Friendship, Gen, Post-Season/Series 04 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 12:57:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16219502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningstar115/pseuds/morningstar115
Summary: The title and tags say it all.Can be read as a companion piece to "Behind the Laughter".





	He Died Laughing

It had happened too fast.

It was just a patrol. A simple patrol around the outlying villages. Nothing unusual.

Bandits attacked. Nothing unusual there, either. Even during Arthur's reign, there were many thieves and evildoers in the kingdom of Camelot.

They had been outnumbered. But they were to best Camelot had to offer. Arthur, Leon, Elyan, Gwaine, Percival, and Merlin himself, not that anyone would count him among the best. But it hadn't mattered; he hadn't fallen. His magic did grant him a measure of safety.

He just wished that it always extended to those he cared about.

They all fought. They drove the bandits away. The thieves fled in terror when too many of them had been killed. The remaining knights didn't pursue them. Not this time.

* * *

The funeral pyre had been lit. The words...useless, useless words...had been spoken, the speeches made.

The goodbyes said.

Merlin was left alone to stare at the glowing flames. He could see the attack in his mind, could visualize the fight. He recalled the death.

* * *

They'd always fought well together, the knights of Camelot. They trained together, they knew how to fight as one.

He'd been in the thick of it. Even while swinging a sword, he could still crack a joke. Merlin could remember his gleeful voice ringing through the woods, rising above clanging of blade upon blade.

It'd been so stupid. It hadn't been his fault.

Merlin should've been quicker. They should all have been quicker.

The sword had pierced him through the heart. He probably hadn't had time to feel anything at all. 

* * *

No matter how long Merlin stared that the flames, he could not get the picture out of his head.

_He lay on his back, his red blood mingled with the red of his cloak._

_His face wasn't pained in the least, however. It looked happy, gleeful._

_He'd been laughing._

Perhaps it hadn't been so terrible.

Merlin would miss him. They all would. He had been their friend. Their companion.

Their brother.

At least he hadn't suffered. He would have hated that. 

* * *

What had their farewell words said about him? Nothing, almost. He'd never been open about himself. The only thing he shared freely, besides his friendship, was his laughter.

That was the sound they would remember. His laughter, not his screams.

Merlin reflected that it was better that way. They didn't have to remember him in pain. They could remember him as he died. Cheerful, even elated. 

Because Gwaine died laughing.


End file.
